North York dates for Josienne and Ben

TO win the Best Duo category at the 2015 BBC Folk Awards is quite an achievement at any stage of an artists’ career. But just two years prior to this accolade, Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker were virtually unknown on the folk scene. So their success is quite remarkable. Now signed to Rough Trade Records, Josienne and Ben are currently on a tour taking in York and Reeth.

The pair had been performing to one woman and a disinterested dog at London acoustic nights since 2009. Following the release of their first two albums One Light Is Gone and The Seas Are Deep, interest began to grow. But it was musician and producer Jim Moray who persuaded them a far bigger audience would appreciate their classically instilled traditional songs and self-penned lovelorn ballads. The reception for their 2013 album Fire & Fortune proved him right.

Five star reviews followed for 2015’s Nothing Can Bring Back The Hour, which was a hugely ambitious, uncompromised realisation of everything Josienne and Ben had planned when they met six years ago.

Although Ben Walker (who grew up in Worcestershire) studied classical guitar from childhood and Josienne Clarke (from West Sussex) is a classical music degree dropout, both are keen to stress that they’re “bog standard comprehensive school kids”.

6 Music DJ Cerys Matthews invited them to appear in the National Theatre’s production of Our Country's Good. The play, which ran from August to October 2015 at the Olivier Theatre, also featured two of their compositions.

* Thursday, May 26: - The Black Swan, York. wegottickets.com/event/341686

* Friday, May 27: Reeth Memorial Hall, Reeth, North Yorks. wegottickets.com/event/357845

Viv Hardwick